


Detroit: Become Country

by Rosie2009



Series: Detroit: Become Human Fanfiction [2]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game), Detroit: Become Human (Video Game) RPF
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-17
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-06-30 00:53:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19842124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rosie2009/pseuds/Rosie2009
Summary: A Detroit: Become Human AU where there are no androids. Just a couple of young adults whose paths have happened to cross at a ranch belonging to a retired cattle farmer. A Norkus or Marth fanfic, since there is so few of those in the fandom.





	1. Chapter 1

“Mom, I’ll be fine. Yeah. I know, I know, I’m not eight! Okay. I love you, too. Bye,” Markus, keeping his eyes on the road, reached down and tapped his phone, turning it off. He sighed but smiled anyway.

It was good to know that his mother cared about him, but he was practically a grown man. Eighteen years old and freshly graduated from high school. He was definitely not a little boy anymore.

Markus turned carefully onto the dirt road leading to his dad’s house.

He was finally old enough to do what he’d wanted to do since his parents split. He was finally going to move in with his dad and help him with the farm. Throughout his childhood, Markus had visited as much as he could possibly convince his mother to allow him. He longed to be there for his dad. To actually have a purpose.

His mother always insisted that going to school to be a lawyer was an admirable purpose, but Markus wanted to work with animals and the land. He didn’t want to waste the rest of his life constantly bickering for one side or the other of an argument, and sometimes not even for something he believed in personally.

Markus passed several herds of cattle and the sight of them brought a smile to his face. All the fields nearby here belonged to his dad. He was excited to work with the animals. That was quite possibly his favorite part of farm life.

Nevertheless, simply the sight of all of the open countryside inspired some great emotion in him that could only be explained as fulfillment. He couldn’t wait to start working as soon as he got there.

Before long, the road impossibly narrowed into something that had to be an extension of his father’s driveway. After what seemed like an eternity of picket fencing along the edge of the road, there was a gate that was wide open. Markus felt his heart swell with fondness for his father. Carl had aged well, but he was still elderly, so it was truly sweet that he actually thought to leave the gate open.

He turned into the little gravel driveway, spinning the wheel so that he made the next turn into the parking shed. Markus carefully maneuvered and pulled up next to the ratty old blue Ford pickup- practically a trademark of his dad’s- that was parked to the leftmost side of the building.

Markus eagerly stepped out of his Mini Cooper, deeply inhaling the warm country air around him. He had missed this so much. It was the smell of home. He reached into the back of the car and dragged out his suitcase. Markus then made the walk to the house.

“Markus!” the elderly man cried from his front porch as soon as Markus was in eyeshot.

“Dad!” Markus grinned widely, hurrying up the steps and wasting no time in hugging him. Markus couldn’t help but mentally note with worry the weight loss Carl had endured. The last time he had seen him, he had seemed so much weightier and healthier.

He guessed that was why he finally broke down and asked him if he would come and help run the farm.

“It’s so good to have you here, my boy,” Carl told him, patting his arm firmly.

“It’s just great to be back here with you.” Markus gestured at the place and looked back at the older man with a sincere smile.

“The place gets so lonely without anyone here to enjoy it with. I mean, I hired help- good help, too- but I missed my boy,” Carl explained, the fondness etched into every groove of his face.

“Don’t worry, Dad. I am here to help you as much as I can and I promise that when I’m done, we probably won’t even need the extra help you’ve got,” Markus self-assuredly proclaimed. He laughed at Markus’ confident words, shaking his head as he scratched his chest.

“I have no doubt that you will.”

“So is there anything I can do for you now?” Markus offered and Carl smiled at him proudly.

“Well, you could go and help North- the girl I hired to help out around here- unload the hay off of the trailer out back. The man who cuts the pasture left a portion of it here,” Carl slyly informed him, taking a swig of his drink as he held back a smile.

“Are you sure he didn’t just leave it with the intent to come back for it later?” Markus questioned, raising an eyebrow as he crossed his arms over his chest in an almost reprimanding motion.

“It’s my hay, and I’ll distribute it how I see fit,” Carl told him determinedly, and Markus knew there was no changing his mind. So he just chuckled good-naturedly and nodded his head as he sat his suitcase down on the porch nearby his father’s rocking chair, eager to go and start working.

“Okay, then.” Markus started to head down the steps.

“Markus?” He stopped and turned to his dad.

“Take this hat, would you? It’ll protect your head from the sun,” Carl offered, holding out the old velvety black hat that he always used to wear when he was a younger man.

“Dad, it’s your hat. Are you sure?”

“Definitely. At least it gets to do something besides sit unused and tired in an old chair on the porch. You know. Like me,” Carl bitterly remarked.

“Thank you,” Markus finally told him, after remaining unsure of what to say for a few moments.

He then put it on his head, offering his dad a wave as he went down the stairs and toward the backyard where he would meet quite possibly the most fascinating person he had ever laid eyes on.

**A/N: Well, the first chapter is always sucktacular, but you gotta start somewhere. This'll be my first chapter story that is not a oneshot collection in what feels like forever. I hope it wasn't too bad, and hopefully it has shown promise. At least, somewhere along the way.**


	2. Chapter 2

Markus went around the edge of the house, adjusting his hat to better suit his head. He immediately spotted the trailer, but North, on the other hand, was a bit of a mystery to find.

But then, a head of long red-brown hair appeared from behind a particularly high stack of hay. He approached the trailer without hesitation, only stopping once he had reached the side of it. Markus offered his hand as the girl returned from her trip to the stack of bales nearby that she had unloaded, beginning his introductions.

“Hey, I’m Markus. Carl’s-”

“Carl’s son. Yeah, don’t bother. I already got the rundown this morning,” she interrupted, lifting a haybale with a grunt and tossing her head so that her hair in her long braid fell down her back as she walked over to the beginnings of a pile under the shed nearby.

“Okay… Well, I’m here to-”

“Here to help. Once again, don’t start with the intro,” North cut him off, finally looking him in the eye. He paused, his breath hitching as her brown eyes penetrated into his own. It was the first good look of her face that he had gotten.

She was absolutely gorgeous in every way. Her nose was perfectly sculpted and her lips were beautifully full. Several strands of hair fell in her face, but they were perfect, too.

But her eyes were perhaps the most stunning and captivating part of her whole face. She had the look of someone who had been through a lot. They swirled with anger and sadness, and it was a beautiful storm. He absently wondered where the joy was in the midst of all that.

But almost immediately, he was pulled from the trance when her gaze shifted from that pure unadulterated look at her soul to a strange expression as she tilted her head slightly.

“Heterochrome. Huh. Don’t see that every day,” North spoke halfway to herself as she returned to her work, sparing him one more glance before fully refocusing her attention.

Markus was just surprised that she knew the word for it. Most people didn’t know what to call his rare condition, but it spoke volumes to him that she did. She was smart.

He shook himself from his stupor and stepped up onto the trailer, grabbing two bales and lifting them with relative ease. She turned from throwing hers on the pile and raised an eyebrow.

“Trying to prove something, Mini-Markus?” North asked him, and he could hear the underlying challenge in her voice.

“No, just trying to help,” he replied, trying to brush off the fact that his pride felt ever so slightly hurt as a result of that comment. But then, his mind zoomed in on the particular nickname she had thought of for him. He couldn’t help but wonder how she had came up with that.

She must have sensed his confusion, so she offered an explanation as she passed by.

“I saw you drive up in a Mini Cooper. I didn’t know you’d drive up in a yuppie car. But I guess if you come from a city, even if it’s not too far from the country, you’re still going to be a yuppie. You can slap a cowboy hat on, but that doesn’t make you country.” He stopped in the middle of reaching for a bale.

“So just because I drive a Mini, I earn that nickname?” he checked, very much disliking that new alias.

She paused on her way back to the trailer so that she was right in front of him. He furrowed his brow, resisting the urge to swallow as a result of her sudden closeness.

“You’re now known as Mini-Markus.” North stepped even closer, taking advantage of the height provided her by the trailer and putting her face in his. She gave him a once over, her gaze raking down his face and back up to his eyes. “So, until you manage to prove yourself otherwise, deal with it.”

Markus huffed a surprised breath, shocked by her unabashed boldness. After a moment, he shook his head and continued helping her stack hay bales.

As they both worked, he tried to surreptitiously watch her. He’d never seen anybody like her before. She had such a passion and fire within her that it was hard to keep his eyes off of her. Markus hoped that if he watched, he might learn more about her mysterious personality. At least something besides the fact that she was infuriating, vicious, and relentless.

And so unbelievably attractive.

“If you’d do a little less staring and a little more working, then we might finish this before the day’s over,” North snidely remarked. He quickly averted his eyes, completely centering his attention on his work now.

Before long, they had made short work of the hay and finished it easily. They stood there side by side for a moment, catching their breath, and it quickly occurred to Markus that if he didn’t speak soon, she’d likely leave to do something else. He didn’t want her to go quite yet, though, so he swiftly decided to compliment her on something in hopes that he might earn a smile or at least another glance.

“You’re pretty strong,” he spoke, mentally slapping himself because of how stupid that sounded. She immediately turned toward him, a flame in her eyes.

“Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t be strong,” North declared, her brown eyes lit in practically an inferno by now.

“That’s not what I meant. I was just trying to-”

“Yeah, I know what you were trying to do,” she closed down the conversation, stalking away in complete unadulterated anger.

Markus shook his head, letting out a long breath. That was definitely the very wrong thing to say.

He then headed in the opposite direction from which North had made her exit. He certainly was going to do his best to avoid her for a little while. At least until she cooled down.

So he decided to see the horses, creatures of habit that he knew wouldn’t all of a sudden pull something that he didn’t expect out of their metaphorical hat.

He whistled, and several horses came over to see if he had anything good for them to eat. However, one particular horse pushed through the crowd of equines to meet him.

Markus immediately smiled, coaxing the gray horse over to him with an outstretched hand. He eagerly pushed his nose into Markus’ palm.

“Hey, Charlie,” Markus greeted him, stroking his face gently as he eyed the creature.

Out of all of the horses his dad had, he loved Charlie the most. He was the first horse that Markus had ever ridden, and he was the one on which Markus was originally taught to ride. Every time he visited Carl’s house, he gave extra attention to Charlie and was sure to ride him as well.

“Oh, great. You again,” a voice sounded off behind him. Markus’ eyes widened a bit as he spun around to face the person behind him. It was North. She seemed slightly less peeved than she was a few minutes ago, but she was still very much mad at him.

He silently watched as she headed over to the feeding trough to fill it up. Markus looked back at Charlie, shrugging his shoulders as he pushed off the fence to go see if he could help her and perhaps remedy the issue that he had unknowingly started between them.

North was currently kneeled over a gigantic bag of feed, trying to lift it and failing miserably. He assumed it was probably her anger that was influencing her to attempt to do something so impossible.

Just as he was nearing her from behind, intending to go to the side of her and help her raise the bag up, she whipped around with a warning glance. Markus stopped, backing away with his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Are you stalking me or something?” she grumpily questioned, turning back to the bag after she had given him a good and long stern stare.

“No. You just looked like you were having difficulty lifting that feed sack, and I wanted to see if you needed any help,” he explained honestly, looking at her from underneath his hat.

“Any assistance that you could give would be highly unappreciated. I’m perfectly fine by myself,” she stubbornly proclaimed, still struggling with the bag.

“There’s no shame in needing help. The best leaders openly admit they need help,” Markus mumbled, more out of habit than anything. That was a saying that his mother had used so often on him that it was almost second nature to employ it himself.

“Look, smarty-pants, if you want to help, go over there and play with Charlie-Horse. He always has been a pain in the neck. It’s no wonder you two get along so well,” North told him. Markus raised an eyebrow but complied with her directions, going over to pet the horse.

He placed his elbows on the fence casually, scratching the silvery horse under the chin as he listened to the constant grunts and groans coming from the girl behind him as she fought it. He then heard a dull thud and the shifting of feed in the sack. With a well-hidden chuckle, Markus assumed that she had probably kicked the bag out of frustration.

Then everything was silent for a moment except for North’s heavy breaths of complete aggravation.

So he finally decided to turn around and go help her, even though she had instructed otherwise. She was leaned against the wall, her face drawn into a scowl as she stewed and boiled.

Markus spared her a glance as he started to raise up the enormous bag that, impressively, she had managed to move somewhat. He could feel her eyes on him as he turned to go and put it in the trough.

But before he got to the trough, he stopped, sitting it down on the ground with a heavy thump as he stopped to rest. He had a plan, so that he might regain her favor.

“You think you might could help me out? This thing’s heavy,” he panted. It was heavy, but it wasn’t that weighty. Markus knew he was probably going to have to endure great teasing as a result of this, but he figured it was probably worth it.

His hope was that if she saw that he was openly alright with his weaknesses, then she wouldn’t stay so upset about his supposedly implying that she was weak because she was a girl. Honestly, she was so touchy about strange things, he couldn’t help but note, and she interpreted weird things that he didn’t even intend.

“Oh, so Mister Manly Manfred needs a weak girl to help him lift? How funny,” North shot at him, but nevertheless, she went over to help him. They collectively lifted and poured the entirety of the bag into the trough.

“Of course, I do. Everybody needs it sometimes. But you’ve got it wrong with one thing,” Markus told her as he sat the sack over nearby the door to the barn. He could hear her footsteps as she followed him.

He raised up, meeting her eyes.

“You’re a pretty darn strong girl to have moved this thing as far as you did,” Markus admitted with a grin, taking off his hat and wiping his forehead. North rolled her eyes, ultimately blowing off what he said, but he could see a glimmer of something positive in her eyes.

“You’re just a pansy,” she insulted, throwing the comment over her shoulder as she went around the corner and left him.

He scratched the back of his neck with a smile as he turned to spend more time with the horses.

She was certainly an interesting character, to say the very least.


	3. Chapter 3

“So, Markus, how was your day?” Carl asked, looking up from his dinner with a kindly smile.

“Not too bad,” Markus replied, chewing the roasted beef quietly and contemplatively. Despite the fact that his eyes were elsewhere at that moment, he could see the curious tilt of his dad’s head.

“What did you think of North?” Carl questioned, and Markus paused in his motion to bring his fork to his mouth. He looked at his dad, and grimly noted the hint of amusement on his face.

“She wasn’t entirely awful. She’s certainly spirited, though, and I’m not sure whether that is in a good way or not. She is kind of frightening, to be honest.”

They shared a moment of silence for a moment, and just a moment too late, Markus realized that Carl had caught on to Markus’ tiny crush.

“The best sort of woman is the kind that frightens you. She’ll always keep you guessing. And in a relationship, it’s good to have a little spice.”

“Dad, you talk as if I’m about to ask her to be my girlfriend or something,” Markus nervously laughed. Carl never even changed his enigmatic expression as he took another bite.

“Who knows what could happen. Besides, I saw you two outside. I’m not blind, yet, you know,” Carl sneakily told him, a grin on his face as Markus nearly choked on his beef.

“Dad! I don’t like her like that,” Markus desperately attempted to deflect, but he knew the damage had already been done and that he was never going to hear the end of it. His dad might be old and wise, but he certainly couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a little fun.

“I was a young man, too, once. I know that look in your eye. Had it myself, a time or two,” Carl winked, his smile growing ever wider as Markus grew more and more flustered.

Markus hid his face in his hands, knowing that Carl must have misinterpreted North’s closeness for some sort of attraction.

“Whatever you saw was not what it looked like. She was getting in my face and insulting me. It really wasn’t some great romantic escapade,” Markus explained, completely humiliated. Carl just laughed as he shook his fork at his son.

“That means she likes you,” Carl teased. After feeling another extreme wave of mortification, Markus finally settled for eating more of his dinner instead of giving his dad more content to use against him.

“She doesn’t feel that way about me and I certainly don’t feel that way about her. She’s extremely irritating, stubborn, and way too sensitive,” Markus explained, hoping that he had shut down the conversation altogether. Carl just looked at him for a moment, that same frustrating grin on his face, but he didn’t say anything else about it. At least for that moment.

Markus couldn’t help but let his mind drift over to her after everything quieted. He really hoped to see her again, despite the fact that she was extremely unpleasant to talk to when she was angry.

And the worst part of it was that Markus didn’t even know what made her mad. Obviously, he should be more careful in the future about how he compliments her, but other than that, he really had no idea what insulted her and what pleased her.

One way or another, however, he was intrigued by her. She was fascinating simply because she was so opposite of the sort of girls that he dated before.

His love life in high school mostly consisted of docile, sweet, and calm girls that he mostly took pity on because they had such a big crush on him. He didn’t want to hurt their feelings, so he went out on a date or two with them before finally explaining how he felt.

Needless to say, North was neither sweet nor docile and most certainly not calm by any stretch of the imagination. And that lack of caring about what he thought drew him in.

“You’re thinking about her,” Carl’s voice suddenly interrupted his train of thought. He dropped his head so that it laid on the table and also so he wouldn’t have to face his dad with his currently blushing face.

“Dad…”

Carl just laughed.

**A/N: I know. A crappy little chappy, but I promise the next one will be extra long. ;) This one's just to tide you over until I finally release the next chapter.**


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